Man Who Lived With Dead Parents Found Wandering

AKRON, Ohio (AP) - A man who lived in a house with the bodies of his dead parents was found more than a year after he walked away from a halfway house, police said.

Police found Ralph L. Carlone, 49, wandering in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Tiffin last week. He disappeared 16 months ago after he was placed in Oriana House, a private agency that reintegrates offenders to communities.

Carlone was in the halfway house after being charged with failing to seek care for his mother. Prosecutors later dismissed the charge.

The remains of Armando Carlone and his wife, Delia, were discovered in July 2000 after authorities found Ralph Carlone walking along a highway and carrying $147,000 in a bag.

Mrs. Carlone, who died June 24, 2000, at age 77, was found in a living room chair. Her husband's bones were in plastic bags under the basement stairs. He died in 1989 at age 73.

Ralph Carlone had a dollar and change in his pocket when he was found Friday night.

According to the Tiffin police report, Carlone told an officer "that he had to get out of the mental home. He said he went to Connecticut for a while and that he was on his way back to Akron from Indiana when he came through Tiffin."

Carlone waived a hearing Monday in Tiffin Municipal Court and agreed to be returned to Akron.

His lawyer, Frank Pignatelli said the only charge Carlone faces is failure to appear on a warrant in Akron Municipal Court. The warrant was issued when he left Oriana House.

In January, the Social Security Administration settled a fraud claim against Carlone for $100,000. The agency had accused Carlone and his mother of defrauding $129,000 in Social Security payments because checks to Armando Carlone continued to be cashed after he died.